Well, that was interesting...

Apparently Natalie Portman is out of the Wuthering Heights project:

Natalie Portman has walked out of new film ‘Wuthering Heights’.

The Hollywood actress has reportedly left movie bosses fuming after quitting her role as Cathy Earnshaw in the big screen adaptation of Emily Bronte’s classic 1847 novel, despite having “seduced” them into giving her the part.

A movie insider told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper: “It’s fair to say we were seduced by her and we should have been on our guard.”

Portman is said to have made a concerted effort to convince director John Maybury and producers Ecosse Films and HanWay Films to give her the role of Cathy, even convincing them to allow her casting approval over the choice of actor to portray her character’s lover Heathcliff.

‘Wuthering Heights’ producers refused to comment on Portman’s decision to pull out of the project.

Maybury is now looking for a new lead actress. Sienna Miller and Keira Knightley - who both star in his upcoming film ‘The Edge of Love’ - were both previously linked to the project.

That sounds pretty bizarre. If this is true, and she was so taken with the project, why give it up so soon? As an aside, I continue to find it amusing that Keira Knightley is suggested as the ideal actress- in some circles, mind you- for both Cathy and Jane. Maybe we need to have a few more actresses of substance out there to choose from? I don't know- I am still living under a pile of spiral bound notebooks.

No Thanks.

The news of yet another adaptation of Jane Eyre is not going down well at all, if the buzz on the internet is any indication of the novel's fanbase. There seem to be very few who are looking forward to the film with anticipation, largely because it has only been two years since the BBCs hugely popular mini series. In short, it looks like fans of the novel are full and are perfectly willing to pass on seconds. In fact, a common response is to demand an adaptation of one of the other Bronte novels: Villette, or Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Villette has become a great favourite as an alternate film project. But, unless the BBC release their old Villette mini series, we probably will not be seeing one for some time yet.

Today, the news is all about trouble in the British film industry. Like the novel's fanbase, they are none too pleased with the new film but this time, the trouble is with casting.

"No one is doubting Ellen Page's acting abilities but why a BBC movie of Jane Eyre couldn't have a British actress in the lead is pretty hard to stomach," says a 'film industry insider' in the Daily Express.

Well, it was just two years ago that the BBC made a very nice mini with British actors in the lead roles.

Ellen Page to Star in New Jane Eyre Film

Thanks to Thisbeciel and Annie for the heads up. I might dig myself out of my thesis-bound semi-retirement to cover this one. I think my contacts in Los Angeles should come in handy...

By Steven Zeitchik

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Jane Eyre could be taking another swoon on the big screen -- with Ellen Page playing the iconic character.

BBC Films has signed on to develop an adaptation of the Charlotte Bronte novel and has attached Page to play Jane. Moira Buffini wrote the screenplay; a director has not yet been chosen.

The role would mark the first period piece for Page, who has signed on to a number of contemporary films since her Oscar-nominated turn in "Juno," including the roller-derby comedy "Whip It!" and the dramatic thriller "Peacock." She opted out of Sam Raimi's supernatural tale "Drag Me to Hell" this year, citing scheduling conflicts.

Bronte's 1847 novel tells the love story of a governess and her master, Edward Rochester, with Gothic flourishes. It's among the most-filmed English novels of all time, with well over a dozen productions reaching the big and small screens, including BBC-produced miniseries in 1973 and 2006. Among the actresses to play the title character over the years are Joan Fontaine, Susannah York and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Film Adaptation of Shirley?

From today's News and Star:

40k Euros to develop screenplay

A CUMBRIAN-educated lecturer has been awarded 40,000 Euros to develop her screenplay of Charlotte Bronte’s Shirley.

Dr Jo Baker, who attended Queen Elizabeth School at Kirby Lonsdale and now lectures in English and Creative Writing at Lancaster University, won the funding from the Irish Film Board.

The screenplay is now in development with the independent production company Green Park Films.

Dr Baker said: “It was a great sense of satisfaction to be taken seriously for my screenplay because I’ve never done anything like this before and it’s very exciting.

“I have my own dream wish list of who I’d like to be in the film but it’s early days yet. But the fact that we’ve got investment makes me feel more confident.”

Published in 1849, the novel is set the industrialising England of the Napoleonic wars and Luddite revolts of 1811-12.

Illustration from the Bronteana Resource Site. Other illustrations can be found here.

New Adaptation of Wuthering Heights

Here we go again! This time ITV has commissioned a new adaptation of Emily Bronte's novel. There is another version being planed by the company producing 'Becoming Jane.'

The three-hour adaptation of the nineteenth century novel will be screened either in late 2007 or early 2008, after a series of Jane Austen dramas next year.
It was commissioned by Laura Mackie, ITV's controller of drama, and will be produced by Mammoth Screen, a new independent production company set up by former ITV drama producer Damien Timmer.
The writer is Peter Bowker, who was behind the BBC's 'Blackpool' musical thriller and 'The Canterbury Tales: The Miller's Tale'. It has not yet been cast.
Classic costume drama remains a reliable crowd-puller, with the BBC's recent four-part adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre' attracting 6.7m viewers for its final episode.
ITV has already lined up three Jane Austen novels for next year: 'Mansfield Park', 'Northanger Abbey' and 'Persuasion'.
'Wuthering Heights', the only novel by Charlotte's sister Emily, is a darker tale of the twisted relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy, who comes back as a ghost to haunt her lover.
The last TV version of the book was filmed in 1998 by LWT and starred Sarah Smart and Robert Cavanah. Film versions have starred Ralph Fiennes and Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff, and there are reports of Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie having been lined up to star in a new version.

Bronte Boxed Set

Well, Tenant of Wildfell Hall is still unavailable in any format other than VHS and region two but they have come out with a boxed set of three BBC Bronte films. Available November 6th, it can be pre-ordered now and includes the 1983 Jane Eyre with Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke, 1996 Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and 1978 Wuthering Heights. A free imaginary cookie to anyone who can guess why Tenant of Wildfell Hall gets top billing.

From the BBC:

The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall (Dir. Mike Barker, 1996): This is the fantastic BBC adaptation of Anne Bronte's novel.

When Helen Graham becomes the new tenant of the dark, decaying Wildfell Halt, her independent spirit and radical views set her apart from the staid rural community around her. Gilbert Markham, a young farmer, finds himself powerfully drawn to her and a series of dramatic events brings them closer together. But the enigmatic Mrs Graham's unconventional life and behaviour disguise a hidden past with many secrets, secrets the world of Victorian England would rather bury forever...

Jane Eyre (Dir. Julian Amyes, 1983): Jane Eyre (Zelah Clarke) is a mistreated orphan who learns to survive by relying on her independence and intelligence. Her first job in the outside world is governess to the ward of Mr. Rochester (Timothy Dalton), a man of many secrets and mercurial moods. The tentative trust between them slowly develops into romance, but their hopes for happiness will soon be jeopardized by a terrible secret.

Wuthering Heights (Dir. Peter Hammond, 1978): Emily Bronte's classic tale of all-consuming love. When Mr. Earnshaw encounters Heathcliff, a ragamuffin orphan, he kindly brings the boy into his home and makes him part of the family. And from the start, Heathcliff falls hopelessly in love with the daughter of the house, the beautiful, headstrong Catherine. She adores him, too, but when a wealthy neighbour woos her, Catherine's material instincts get the better of her, and she agrees to marry the man. However, Catherine discovers that she cannot forget Heathcliff so easily... and that not even death can make them part...

Testamony of Jane Eyre 1956


I am still trying to piece together this BBC version, not having access to their archives. But one of my readers wrote in with this brief comparison with the recent production. If anyone remembers the 1956 version as well, please write in and let me know your recollections! The following is a comment left on the archive for this post. (Comments sent to the archive do not always reach me. Also, as a reminder, please make some sort of reference to which post you are commenting on if it is older than a week or so because I cannot locate your comment in order to reply in some cases!).

Daphne Slater was Jane Eyre likewise Stanley Baker was Rochester the 1956 production covered the whole of the book, it wasn't dumbed down or made more sexually explicit.The meeting in the garden with the cigar smoke was sexy enough I am frankly amazed that the 2006 production has received so much praise and not one mention seems to have been made about the far superior 1956 version.

This post contains the bulk of my information on this adaptation, which seems to be clinging onto its fanbase despite not being available for half a century!

Tenant on Television

This is blatantly an advertising ploy to bank on the new fans of Mr. Stephens, but who cares? Tenant of Wildfell Hall is on television! I won't get to see it, but do watch it. It is the only available adaptation of Anne Bronte's novel. Many cast members from this film found their way into Jane Eyre 2006...

I have never seen this film, but I imagine it will be a little strange to see Toby Stephens playing a romantic lead opposite Tara Fitzgerald now that I'm used to these actors playing Rochester and Mrs. Reed! This link is less spoiling.

I would actually advise against visiting the link above if you are not familar with the story, because it completely unravels the plot, in my opinion. I also don't care much for the comment below about Toby's career. Humph!

This adaptation was originally broadcast in 1996, and is only the second screen version of Bronte’s novel in history (the first was made way back in 1968). The far more lavish 1996 version stars the strikingly beautiful Tara Fitzgerald in the lead role. Tara was already a well-known actor by this time, having appeared alongside Hugh Grant in two films (Sirens and The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain) and Ewan McGregor in Brassed Off.

Yet there was a time in Tara’s early years that she thought she’d never make it as a performer. At 17 she failed to get places at either RADA or the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and ended up travelling around Europe and working as a waitress. She then returned to London, more mature and self-confident, and landed a place at the prestigious Drama Centre, where the likes of Anthony Hopkins and Pierce Brosnan trained.

Rupert Graves, who plays the Byronic and flawed Arthur Huntingdon, had a similarly rocky road to success. As a teenager he was a punk rocker, before running away from school at 15 to become a circus clown (!) His boyish good looks eventually got him noticed, and he was soon appearing in such posh productions as A Room With a View.

By contrast, Toby Stephens (who portrays Gilbert Markham) had a far more assured path to stardom. After all, his mum happens to be Dame Maggie Smith, which must have opened a fair few doors! His early career was marked by Shakespearean roles on stage, but he’s since become more mainstream – and even played a Bond baddie in Die Another Day.

Tenant of Wildfell Hall is airing October 21st at 8 pm on uktv.

Rochester: 'The sex is of no interest to me whatsoever'

Taking lines out of context is a lot of fun. I've had confirmation today that I picked the right school. I've 'begun' 'work' on my thesis on adaptations of Jane Eyre and am finding Jane Eyre and What Adaptors Have Done to Her to be a lot of fun. A little thin on criticism, but the quotations are excellent- and often totally hilarious. It begins with a fabulous quote from a theatre review in which they express astonishment that there is no 'National Society for the Suppression of Plays about the Brontes.' Talk about harsh! I love it. Anyway, she goes on to say that the BBC crushed her dreams and so she's not going to play with them but stick to Victorian stage adaptations and two American films (so there!).

The Victorian plays are awesome. I have one linked on the sidebar- the 1857 Brougham one, which includes happy dancing farmers at the end, tons of 'snubbed, by Jove!,' Grace Poole's cake addiction and one 'dem rhinoceros!' (The illustration from the script also shows Mr Rochester flying through the air). To this must now be added some extraordinary lengths to make the story happier (Jane has only just told Rochester that his infirmities 'are none to me, sir' when- poof! he can see again! This reminds me of a blog entry I read recently where someone complained that Rochester's hand doesn't grow back and he doesn't get 'pretty'. If his eye can grow back at a word from Jane, I can't see the trouble with the hand and a perm).



Two of my favourite moments come from the same play. Goes a little something like this:

Brocklehurst: Ew, who's that smelly tramp?
Rochester: Oh, the hurting off stage and the pain!
Brocklehurst: Let us do the Christian thing and flee the smelly tramp! *leaves*
Rochester: SNARKSNARKSNARK blast it. SNARK
Jane: Oh, snarking. Can I help?
Rochester: You ma fairy womans! Give me a hankee and lift me to safety.
Jane: ...O...kay. Uhm. There.
Brocklehurst: Did you just lift that smelly tramp with a handkerchief? You are so FIRED!Rochester: No, she's hired. I need a governess. Here's my phone number. See you are 9. *clicks*

John Reed: All your inheritance are belong to me! Ha ha!
Jane: Noooo!
Rochester: *whips off his bandages and snatches the inheritance papers*
John Reed: Blast! It cannot be! He sees!
Rochester: I will now pronounce a very long speech about blindness touching mostly upon the blindness in not realising the love of a certain little lady in the crowd today-
Jane: Oh, that's me! I love you!
Rochester: Yes, I was blind but not blind to see ma woman's inheritance stolen!
Jane: ...Hey, you can see!
Rochester: ...Yes. Sorry, I was just pretending.

One last thing. From yet another adaptation comes this complete 'whitewashing' of Rochester's character. It would also be quite a stupendous cover story... Once upon a time Edward loved 'Henrietta' but while he went to London, she married his elder brother 'Arthur.' Edward was going to protest but they had him declared mad, tied up, knocked out and put on a ship to the West Indies. Time passes, everyone dies, so he returns home to find a note from his brother. His brother explains that Henrietta quickly came to hate him, she took a lover, gave birth to Adele. He killed the lover, and had Adele taken from her, so she went mad and he died of guilt- or something. Anyway, Edward is now supposed to hush up Henrietta and raise Adele. Aw... (I couldn't help but think this is too much like: 'It isn't my fault, Jane! I was kidnapped by pirates!')

Okay, one last last thing. The Bronte section here is at least twice the size of the one at my old university and it has bound editions of Transactions of the Bronte Society going back to the 1890s (they all look so cute in their sideburns and cravats for those member portraits! The Victorian editions are in facimile). So guess what I will be doing this weekend! If only I had a scanner... some the material is entirely new to me (including an un-finished novel by Charlotte called 'Ashworth.')

'I'm Sorry St.John, you are the weakest link. Goodbye.'

I am coming down with a bad cold. It is cruel that I should be laughing so much. There are quite a lot of hilariously bad student films about Jane Eyre but this one is also well done. I especially like the Hay Lane scene (those waxy kitchen floors can be treacherous!), and the fire scenes. After careful consideration, I think jet packs are rather useful for getting Rochester up to the third floor and back again. Below is a picture of the very touching fire scene starring Barbie as Jane Eyre and Buzz Lightyear as Mr Rochester.

Janian Media Presentations

I am overwhelmed by the amount of media handed to me this week, mostly thanks to Thisbeciel. Since my earlier post about the Doyle/Harris musical I have been offered a DVD of the production- so watch out for a review of that sometime later. Off the top of my head, there are the two television films from 1957 and 1949 with Patrick McNee and Joan Ilan, and Charleton Heston and Mary Sinclair. There's the renown Bloom/Quayle audiobook, an opera, a Romanian audiobook (perfect for a family friend...), perhaps a dozen radio adaptations? One of these features Ingrid Bergman as Jane, another has Michael York as Mr. Rochester. On top of this, there's the BBC radio adaptations of Wuthering Heights, Villette, The Professor, Shirley, and Jane Eyre (with Sophie Thompson and Ciaran Hinds).

Phew.

And that's just what is relevant to Bronte studies. In addition, there's this Multimedia Presentation for the BBC's 1973 mini-series. It is described as a 'teaser' of sorts. I have not seen it yet, since I am still on the old dial-up connection but others have complimented it. From the same site there are also three video clips from the 1944 Jane Eyre with Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles here.

Anthony Crivello Talks About Jane Eyre: The Musical

I have long thought it a pity that there were no substantive interviews with Anthony Crivello, who originated the role of Mr. Rochester in the Gordon/Caird musical (earning a Dora nomination- a Canadian theatre award), currently playing the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom Spectacular' in Las Vegas. With the help of his assistant, I was able to ask him a few questions (although there were many more things I wished to know!). Anthony is one of my favourite actors to play Mr. Rochester in any medium, so this was a real treat for me to interview him. Thank you, Mr. Crivello! Also, if my readers would like to hear this version of Jane Eyre: The Musical, you may listen and download it here.


How did you go about preparing for playing Edward Rochester?

It was a lovely, 'building block' process. About six months after working on the first demo I read "JANE EYRE." While reading, I searching for those characteristics in Rochester I could relate to... and envisioned (in my minds eye) location, environment, clothing ... and the other principle characters (with the descriptions Bronte described. I began to structure all while gathering the author's (Bronte) intent. I watched the films "Rebecca" (1940) and "Wuthering Heights" (1939 version.) for research purposes. Through "JANE EYRE's" work shops, "try-outs"and creative journey (which for me was nine years), I continued to build the character, with director John Caird and composer Paul Gordon's help. I researched the period, appropriate accent ( I did not want to pronounce words accented in a stilted way, and have them not match my singing... so I leaned on the standard Mid-Atlantic accent.)I researched 'blindness' and it's effect on behavior. I am 'Method' trained, so I continually try to "stay open" to the spontaneous and see where it might lead me. That lead to some lovely character discovery along the way.

What are your thoughts on the character?

Rochester is of the best characters I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I am very proud of my work on the piece, both on stage and on the album. To this day, I still receive comments about my work in "JANE EYRE" which is a gratifying blessing. Rochester is complex: brooding, humble, arrogant, romantic, heartbroken, intelligent, passionate, funny, tortured, bombastic... all put to beautiful melody, lyrics and dialogue. What more can an actor ask for in a role?

What were some of the challenges of playing the role?

No challenges. Just a day to day delight in the journey of discovery.If there was any challenge, it was balancing the long journey in seeing the piece finally come to creative fruition with my home life. And with the demands of being a stage actor... life on the road proves to be difficult on the personal. It requires a sacrificing, and a continuous search for inner Peace. Great fodder for making Rochester real... but not so delightful in the day to day grind.

Did you have any specific sources of inspiration?

Many. My heroes are of the common ... I think those who are fortunate and perceptive enough to experience life's ups and downs, and wake up wiser are inspiring. I have been lucky to have great teachers and interesting, creative friends... many of whom are so much smarter then me. I try my best to listen when they speak, and ask probing questions.

You were involved with the production at a very early stage. Were there any changes to the interpretation and development of the character of Rochester over that time?

It just kept evolving. 'Rochester' somehow stood his ground... so the character lead the way.But I have to say, in it's early stages, the "JANE EYRE" we did in Wichita, KS. still merits in it's purity of heart. It was just as loving, just as heartbreaking. The simplistic story telling done at that stage was piercing. Also, I always loved touches like Brocklehurst singing "Naughty Girl" as a solo.To me, it was much more effective, much more defining, and frightening. Also, very early on... had the pleasure of singing early demos opposite Ms. Sally Dworski as 'Jane.' Sally is blessed with a nightingale's voice. Pure, clean, sweet... it just disarms you. I wish you had the pleasure of hearing those very early demos. They were delightful.

Why did you leave the show after its Toronto run?

See http://imdb.com/name/nm0188266/ for the answer.

What are some of your favorite memories of Jane Eyre?

Aaaaaahhhh.... a very easy question to answer. Taking all the "Lowood School" girls out to The Golden Griddle in Toronto for pancakes. I treated about ten of them to "late breakfast' between shows on a Saturday matinee day. It remains a wonderful memory. They were a delightful, mischievous group, as were Wichita young ladies.

Do you remember any fun on-stage blooper stories you can share?

Please... I would only embarrass myself and damage my 'sterling reputation.' Suffice it to say 'the Gypsy' was a lot more mischievous 'beneath the cape' than what appeared to the audiences. ( Crivello says with a wink and a smile... I can't give my entire 'Secret Soul' away!)

Let me conclude by saying the entire journey was a joy. I was very fortunate to have worked with some wonderful, talented cast members, both in Wichita and Toronto.... and even prior to those performance cities with the early demos. Our crews in both locations were supportive, and caring. We were supported by producers who believed in the show. My experiences with Kathy Haupman and Laura Bergquist in Wichita, KS. and David and Ed Mirvish in Toronto were professional, generous and most appreciated. Our creative team was completely devoted to the project, and I believe their work was splendid indeed. I hope one day to have an additional relationship with what I believe to be a lovely piece of theater, and a beautiful story.

New Adaptation of Wuthering Heights?

According to this page from Ecosse Films, a new feature film of Emily's novel is currently in development. So far, this is all the information available about the production:

A psychologically complex adaptation of Emily Bronte’s classic tale of love and revenge, centred on Heathcliff as immigrant and bringing out the youth of the protagonists.

Writer Olivia Hetreed is working on the project. The news thanks to silcock-2.

More News on Biopic 'Bronte'

At last we have some idea of what this long- very, very long-awaited biopic of the Bronte Sisters will look like thanks to this article from the Observer:

Among the Morris dancers and Bronte tea towels, there is little today in the Yorkshire village of Haworth to dispel romantic images of Charlotte, Emily and Anne strolling on sunlit moors, gaining inspiration for tales that would one day busy the costume drama industry.
It is harder to imagine dungheaps and foul drains, the open sewer in the street and the cholera and typhoid that killed most children before their sixth birthday. It is this dark vision of Bronte country that will be evoked in the first major British biopic of the literary household.
Bronte, likely to be filmed from October in a Yorkshire village that has yet to be chosen, will not replace chocolate-box images with black clouds and tragedy. The £6 million movie will argue that what the sisters achieved in spite of the death and disease was a miracle of imagination and nothing short of heroic.

Charlotte, best known for Jane Eyre, will be played by Michelle Williams, the American actress who starred alongside her partner, Heath Ledger, in Brokeback Mountain. The role of Emily, author of Wuthering Heights, has gone to Nathalie Press, who appeared in the recent BBC adaptation of Bleak House and the critically acclaimed film My Summer of Love. Anne, who with The Tenant of Wildfell Hall never matched the literary reputation of her siblings, will be portrayed by New Zealander Emily Barclay, who was in the film In My Father's Den.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers, seen opposite Scarlett Johansson in Woody Allen's Match Point, plays Branwell, a failed artist who turned to alcohol and opium, while Ben Chaplin plays the Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls, who married Charlotte nine months before her death. Brian Cox, the veteran film actor currently appearing in Tom Stoppard's Rock 'N' Roll on the London stage, plays the family patriarch, the Irish-born Rev Patrick Bronte, who outlived all his offspring.
The film seems to be a safe bet for producer AMC Pictures because of the world's seemingly insatiable appetite for all things Bronte.

'There was terrible disease in the town and burials in the ground around the Brontes every day,' said Angela Workman, the film's writer and director. 'Yet within this trauma they created and turned it into a heat and a life force.'

[...]

'There's a fear of telling this story because there's a fear it will be too depressing,' added Workman. 'There was great tragedy in their lives and they died young, but the lifespan for women in that region at that time was 25, and it occurred to me that the Brontes lived beyond that. For me, the story is about the way they defied death and created.'

From the suppressed emotion between Jane and Mr Rochester to the wild passion of Heathcliff and Cathy, many readers have speculated on the Victorian writers' sexual lives. Workman, a Canadian of British descent who spent four months researching at Haworth, said: 'Everyone talks about how passionate the books are. I think writing became an outlet for them. That will be in the film: a sexuality that emerges out of them in the way it does for people who can't express it, who are physical and temperamental. It comes out in their fantasies as they're playing, in the dirt, wind, rain, cold.'

Brian Cox said of his character, Patrick: 'He lived until his eighties and saw them all off - he was an extraordinary man. Haworth was one of the wettest places in the world: they were living in a permanent state of damp and were doomed from the start.'

ETA: The imdb.com page for 'Bronte' .

In Which the Brontesque Returns with a Vengence


In the course of keeping this blog I have come across a huge number of films, books and and 'other' which are branded 'Bronte' or rather 'Bronte-like.' Things have been quiet for some time, but now Brontesque has broken out again. I am a little confused about this pair of Bronte references in a book review for Kept: A Comedy of Sex and Manners by Y. Euny Hong. The book is described thus:

The trouble with the aristocracy these days is that they just don't sell as well as celebrities. With only middling beauty and brains, staggering debt, and a marked disdain for reputable employment, Judith "Jude" Lee—a descendent of Korean royalty with an utterly bourgeois fixation on class—is finally forced to turn herself over to a madam so upscale she makes Heidi Fleiss look untouchable.

And now, the Bronte references:

The secret, it turns out, to surviving in a city full of beauties and brains but few graces is a surfeit of sitcom-ready charm. This, for Jude, comes second nature, if not from her royal ancestors then from the ones she name-drops with far greater frequency—Becky Sharpe, Elizabeth Bennet, and Jane Eyre, and all the rest of those proto-capitalist players. With a flawless ear for hyperliterate one-liners ("Jung's unchecked early years had made her untamed and feral, like a female Heathcliff") and a sharp eye for a good deal (the adorable Kasporov double she chooses), Jude overcomes at least two dozen plot-breakers, easy as starving a peasant.

I am just trying to imagine someone who is at once like Becky Sharpe, Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Eyre and Heathcliff... The Amazon.com summary is far more comprehensible.

First Scene of Jane Eyre 2006

M from Bronteblog has received more information from Seven Films about the Maspalomas sequence of Jane Eyre. This, then, is an image from the opening of the series- a dream sequence of some kind.
This is Georgie Henley as Jane Eyre. Personally, this image only deepens my confusion!

So, Maspalomas is not Jamaica Afterall

In a previous post, and its comments, we pondered why the new BBC mini series of Jane Eyre was shot partly on location in Maspalomas, in the Canary Islands. M, of Bronteblog has found the answer in a local newspaper and this answer is rather surprising:

From this Spanish article.

Seven Island Films has recently being succesful in bringing Georgie Henley - the child actress of the moment due to her role as Lucy Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia - to shoot on the dunes of Maspalomas the beginning of a four-episode TV series for the BBC based on the novel Jane Eyre. The film opens with the young protagonist dreaming of a desert of orange dunes and blue sea which the director of the production, Susanna White, located in San Bartolomé de Tirajana.

It is tempting to imagine that this sequence would stand in for the arctic daydream Jane has evoked by the pages of Bewick's. However, I'm not entirely sure how well sand dunes would fit with a book on 'British Birds.' No, it is probably something else- something that will surprise all of us, I'm sure!

Another Update on BBC Bronte Films


Once again, our thanks to LaMcKay for providing the following stats on several BBC productions currently unavailable:

Jane Eyre (1963) was broadcast on 7-4-63. The BBC 2 classic serial 28-12-68 Tenant of Wildfell Hall is complete as is their Wuthering Heights first broadcast 28-10-67 (4 episodes). Villette 1970 (also from BBC 2) aired on 31-5-70 and had 5 episodes.

And finally Blogger is allowing me to post images once again. This is the picture I found earlier this week of Daphne Slater who played Jane Eyre in the 1956 BBC series (playing opposite Stanley Baker). I have not been able to verify what the image is from- but the watch definately makes one think that this is not an image from the production! The search continues.

Fan Fiction, more Odds and Ends

Firstly, after years of complaints fanfiction.net has finally added two categories for Bronte fan fiction. The categories are for Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Don't be discouraged by the small number of stories archived there. The vast majority of Bronte fan fiction on the site is still lurking in 'miscellaneous books' or films, and even one or two are filed away under 'Jane Austen.' I'm not exactly thrilled, knowing what 'fandom' does to beloved works of literature. Then again, now and then something really great will turn up. Although this particular site has a reputation for bad writing (thanks to Impairedlogic for the notice about the new Jane Eyre category).

It looks like the BBC's Jane Eyre 2006 has been pre-sold to Bulgarian television along with quite a lot of other programmes.

The Bronte Parsonage has recieved its seven millionth visitor- who is quite bemused as he had never really been that interested in the Brontes but now he'll give Wuthering Heights a try.

And we have another sighting of the Charlotte Bronte-saurus! (See Bronte-saurus, Charlotte and Brontesauri).

Update: Jane Eyre 1963 and Villette 1970

The internet is a marvellous thing. I am astounded by how quickly this search is going. Before I started keeping this blog, work was slow and frustrating. Being in touch with so many Brontephiles like myself is making my work go far more smoothly!

The newest information comes from Bronteana reader, LaMcKay. There is both good and bad news. The bad news is that the 1963 version of Jane Eyre, with Richard Leech and Ann Bell (the photo I discovered earlier this week from this production is here), is unlikely to be released. The current opinion is that the series is missing two of its six episodes- episodes two and three. While most of us would loudly cry that this is no reason to hold it back, it would look awful to the marketting deptartment I'm sure if one third of the production were missing.

The good news is that the current opinion is that Villette survived the archive purge intact! This gives me great hope that it could be released someday. LaMcKay suggests that Jane Eyre could be released with it as bonus material, but I think it is unlikely. What they might do would be to put together a boxed set. To my knowledge there have been no boxed set of Bronte films- only discounts if you buy Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. It is a thought. I must say that the interest in a 'new' Bronte work- which is neither Jane Eyre nor Wuthering Heights- should be immense. Add this 'lost' footage, and 1968 Tenant of Wildfell Hall (I am not sure this one exists, to be fair) and a loss just isn't an option. Everyone will want to have this collection I am absolutely certain.